DARDANELLE—The Dardanelle Junior Sand Lizards invoked the mercy rule early in the second half Thursday en route to a 39-8 win over the Mayflower Eagles.

Dardanelle’s (2-0) Nick Kuras put the Sand Lizards on the scoreboard first with a 32-yard fumble recovery with 5:09 left in the first quarter.

After a three-and-out by the Sand Lizards defense, Dardanelle drove 47 yards in four plays for a touchdown. Sean Via capped off the drive with a 37-yard rush, which put the Sand Lizards ahead 14-0 with 0:32 left in the first quarter.

The Sand Lizards special teams came up with a recovery on the ensuing kickoff as Dakota Rowland snatched the ball on an onside kick for Dardanelle.

The Sand Lizards took only three plays to drive 41 yards as Kyle Smith took a quarterback keeper in for a touchdown. The PAT failed giving the Sand Lizards a 20-0 lead with 7:56 left in the second quarter.

The Sand Lizards defense got its second takeaway of the evening on Mayflower’s first play of the drive as Dardanelle recovered a fumble on the Eagles 7-yard line.

On the ensuing play, Marvin Hernandez darted for seven yards for the touchdown.

The Sand Lizards scored three touchdowns in a span of 1:19 to take a 26-0 lead with 7:13 left in the first half.

The Eagles (0-2) drove to their own 43-yard line before Kuras snatched a Bailey Butler pass on fourth-and-8 for his second takeaway of the game. Rowland took the first carry of the drive in for a 45-yard touchdown to give Dardanelle a 33-0 lead with 2:46 remaining in the half.

The Sand Lizards defense displayed its dominance for the second game in a row limiting the Eagles to only 15 yards of total offense in the first half.

On Dardanelle’s first possession of the second half, the Sand Lizards drove 29 yards in six plays to extend their lead to 39-0. Elyas Carter found David Fraley open on an 11-yard pass for the score with 3:30 left in the third quarter.

The Eagles put together their only scoring drive of the evening going 70 yards on eight plays as Jordan Mack powered into the end zone from two yards out for the touchdown. Butler connected with Mack for the 2-point conversion to pull the Eagles within 39-8 with 4:45 left in the game.

Rowland led the Sand Lizards offense with 83 yards on four carries and one touchdown. Sean Via had 30 yards rushing on two carries and one touchdown while Carter Chandler had three rushes for 21 yards. Elyas Carter’s touchdown pass was the lone Sand Lizards completion of the game as he finished 1-for-1 for 11 yards.

Mack led the Eagles’ offensive effort as he rushed 64 yards on 14 carries. Christian Forrester followed with six rushes for 16 yards. Butler finished the evening completing 1-of-3 passes for nine yards.

Sand Lizards coach Shawn Walter was proud of his team’s progress from the season opener.

“We got everything lined out tonight. We paid more attention to the little things, and we got everyone where they needed to be,” Walter said.

Walter was also pleased with his team’s intense effort.

“We had a lot more hustle tonight,” said Walter. “Our defense was flying around to the football.”

The Sand Lizards host Russellville Eastside next week while the Eagles will return home to host Rose Bud. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.